Robbery suspects approach victims in OC stores

Investigators say a pair of thieves pretends to have a medical emergency, and then force their victim to buy iPads and other items. The Orange County Sheriff's Department is looking for two suspects. The suspects lure their victims by pretending to have a medical emergency, then threaten them.

The victim, who asked not to be identified, said she was shopping at a Sam's Club in Stanton Thursday afternoon when two men approached her. The scene was captured on surveillance video.

A suspect in a dark shirt is identified as the man who approached the victim inside the store and asked her in Spanish if she knew where "Yorkie Street" in Santa Ana was. The suspect said he wasn't feeling well and needed to get there.

According to the victim, the second suspect then approached her and said he knew where that street is and if she drove, he would show her how to get there.

According to detectives, the victim explained that she couldn't help them out because she was shopping and had her 18-month-old daughter with her.

She said the suspects threatened her as she left the store.

"The suspects approached her, simulated a weapon, stated they were armed, forced her into the vehicle," said O.C. Sheriff's Spokesman Jim Amormino.

The victim says the two men forced her to drive to her home. She told them that her husband was there. She said that's when the men told her to return to Sam's Club. They took her inside the store and demanded she withdraw money from an ATM.

The victim says the two men then forced her to buy two iPads with her credit card. She said the men then looked in her purse and took $200 in cash and then took the earrings she was wearing.

Not long after detectives put the word out that these two suspects robbed this victim, they got a hit. They apparently did the something in nearby Westminster.

According to Westminster Police, the same two men approached their victim inside a Target store on November 5. The suspects asked where Yorkie Street in Santa Ana was, the same street as in the Stanton case.

The suspects convinced the victim in Westminster to buy some gold bars for $5,000. The bars turned out to be fake.

If you have any information about the two suspects, you're urged to call the Orange County Sheriff's Department at (714) 628-7170.